The GlenDronach Parliament Aged 21 Years Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 70 cl

Product Information

It won’t be long now before the GlenDronach 21 Years Parliament will be made from whisky that was distilled after GlenDronach reopened in the early 2000s. It means that the release I’m reviewing today will be at least 25 years old, maybe even 26 years, since it was bottled in 2021. After all, the distillery was closed between 1996 and 2002, and that gap of six years forces GlenDronach to use older whisky than necessary. Glendronach has, in recent years, been increasingly recognised for the exceptional quality and value of its single malts. Its history has seen the distillery burn down and founder James Allardice declare bankruptcy, followed by a scattering of ownerships before the brand’s current stewardship under the Brown-Forman Corporation. We may sell, license, transfer, assign or in any other way dispose of the Service (including Members) to any third party without any notification to you, e.g. (but without limitation) in connection with any reorganization, restructuring, merger or sale, or other transfer of assets.

I feel the 40 minutes with water really brought out the more delicate flavors of the whisky. The sherry was cut through quite nicely and I could taste more of the base distillate if you like.Nose (22/25): Very strong sherry. Dark chocolate. Cocoa beans. Dark rum. Nuts. Almonds. Walnuts. Spicy oaks. Let it air and it settles down nicely. Becomes more crisp. More sweeter. More brown sugar. Muscovado sugar. There's a hint of sourness. Cold cuts. Dark jam. Honey. Toast. Quite a typical Oloroso nose with some complexity thrown in thanks to the PX. I have been saving this tiny little sample bottle. What better time than the week before Christmas – before everything gets crazy? GlenDronach is among my favorite distilleries, and may make my favorite sherried malt (for the price). The 18 was a mixed bag for me, but it is not every day that I get to taste a malt with over 20 years of maturation, let alone an official bottling. To conclude the original article, I wrote “ Let’s just hope that in a couple of years, when they can finally release whiskies with accurate age statements, they are able to produce the same top quality as they do now.” That hope doesn’t seem to have come to fruition. Sure, some of the single cask releases are still top notch, but also priced pretty much out of everybody’s range. As far as the more affordable releases go: the latest Glendronach Cask Strength Batch #9 was underwhelming. GlenDronach has featured extensively on this blog, and not just about how many of their whiskies are older than the age that is mentioned on the label. I’ve reviewed roughly 25 different expressions from GlenDronach, with their 50-year-old being the absolute highlight. But there are many other examples of GlenDronach that I enjoyed at lot ( and some not so much). Parliament 21 Year Old sits at the top of Glendronach’s core range, and that is not just because of the two decade age statement. The whisky spent those many years in a mix of Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez Sherry casks. So, this single malt isn’t just finished in Sherry casks or aged for 12 or 15 years in them; instead, you’ve got some real time spent entirely in two different types of Sherry casks, making for some real potential joy for Sherried whisky lovers. And my, does it live up to that potential.

Billy even wanted to add new expressions, which we did. I expect that the new generation of whiskies will be mostly NAS with fancy names, but we hope to be able to sustain a core range of top quality whiskies with age statements. Especially because we feel like that’s the way we can keep up the delicate and unique character of our distillery, whereas with NAS-whiskies the influence of the casks will weaken that character.” Keeping the philosophy alive No partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship is created as a result of your use of the Service. The finish is long, sweet with dried fruit notes, dried orange peel, bittersweet chocolate and a lingering ginger pepperiness. The whisky is bottled a bit stronger than usual for a Scotch whisky, at 48% ABV. It is not chill filtered and has seen no coloring added. Let’s just dive in immediately, shall we? There’s a causality between the mothballing of GlenDronach and the true age of their age statement whiskies. The distillery was closed from 1996 until 2001, and that gap of six years forces GlenDronach to use older whisky than necessary. Take a long hard look at the infographic below and see for yourself.Nose: great nose, with lots of elements that I generally associate with other beverages. Powerful but refined notes of sherry and lighter tones of sweet wine, rum and coffee, a bit bitter, dark chocolate and some slightly meaty tones, like cooked ham. Underlying are notes of chopped parsley, some fruity elements: oranges, figs and cherries, with a whiff of peaty smoke. Lastly, a strange hint of latex paint, but not unpleasant. Whiskybase B.V. (“Whiskybase”, “we” or “us”, company details below) offers a whisky enthusiasts online platform that provides its members access to the most comprehensive, transparent and trusted resource of whisky bottles and allows and stimulates its members to contribute information about whisky bottles to the platform (“Service”). If I’m reading all of this right, it would seem there’s been an information baby lost in the throwing out of the compliance bathwater. Perhaps the 43% ABV 12yo requires (and always has required) more filtering than the 46% ABV 15, 18 and 21-year-old siblings? But if so, why remove the SWA ‘non-compliant’ label from them all?

Over the last several years, GlenDronach has emerged as one of the most exciting and best valued Scotch whiskies and has become a consistent medal winner in international competitions. Nose: Burnt toffee, figs, dark chocolate, plums, maraschino cherries, raisins and honey glazed ham with rum notes of molasses and Demerara sugar. Also a big note of Pedro Ximinez sherry with some savoury notes of ash (as in ashes) and cedar wood along with a hint of parsley. With water more Demerara sugar and ham are more pronounced along with regular toffee (not burnt) some leather and a hint of toast. The Service has been prepared by us solely for information purposes to Members and the Service is based on information we consider reliable and we obtain the contents of the Service from a number of different third party sources (including Contributions), but we do not endorse, support, represent, warrant or guarantee the completeness, truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of the Services and any information therein. Can I tell these apart? Sure. But can I tell if one has been processed differently from the other? Of course not.No, this is not the whisky they serve at the Member’s Bar at Westminster. Both the House of Commons and the House of Lords have their own custom whisky, as does the Speaker of the Commons, but this whisky isn’t it. NOSE: Red fruit sweetness, creamy oak with bits of dark roasted coffee, an underlying ginger note mixed with bits of vanilla and orange. Delicious and rich inviting you to savour slowly.